3.5 rounded up. I liked this book overall, and it was a fun read. My biggest issue is that, at the end, it feels kind of gross to have Jonathan come out to the cemetery to meet Sam. I understand why it was done, but I was hoping to see Sam... actually apologize for what he'd done. Again, I get it, but it wasn't as satisfying as I expected.

Sam is a manager at a store… for now. He’s been called to London for a confrontation with his boss, Johnathan. In the midst of an awkward conversation where Sam suspects he is losing his job, he falls into a shower and has a head injury. At the hospital where he is being checked out, he accidentally implies that he is having memory problems. The doctor orders that he stay with Johnathan for supervision and before Sam can clarify the situation, he realizes this is a second chance to save his job and the jobs of his coworkers.

What I loved:
-strong sense of found family
-grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, forced proximity
-the storyline with the cat
-believable falling in love/relationship development despite slightly absurd plot

This was such a cute and enjoyable read that I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy.

3.5 stars

Sam Beckett is a manager at a bed and bath superstore in the north of England, with a rag tag team of employees he can barely control. When persnickety chain owner Jonathan Forest threatens firings to cut costs, he insists that Sam come down to the main showroom in London to see how things should be done. While there, they get into an altercation that ends up with Sam falling into a shower installation and getting knocked out by its heavy glass door. While at the hospital, he says things are fuzzy, and Jonathan assumes this means he has amnesia, and Sam, thinking this is a way to save his job, lets him believe that. Eager to move on to the next patient, the doctors insist that Sam be under someone's care for the next few weeks as he recovers from his concussion, and with no one else to turn to, Jonathan has no choice but to let him stay with him.

I wanted to like this story, but some of the stylistic choices broke up the flow of the story a bit for me. Sam's dialogue is written in Liverpool slang, and his over the top attempt at banter and need to refer to Jonathan by his full first and last name took me out of the story a bit. It was hard to read about Jonathan being so nasty to his loving family, even if he did soften and turn around by the end. There were a lot of different side plots going on that made the story feel a little longer than it needed to be, with the many characters in Jonathan's extended family, the workplace drama, and the living situation drama. I enjoyed The forced proximity and found family elements despite not particularly liking either of the MMCs.

Alexis Hall does banter like no other. Definitely what redeemed this book for me. I couldn't quite get hooked on the amnesia plot line but the witty banter kept me going. Not my favourite of their books but I still think it's worth a read!

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca & Netgalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Alexis Hall does witty banter better than most authors whose work I’ve read. There were several laugh out loud moments throughout this book.

I’m never a huge fan of tropes that include lying, which was the basis of the fake amnesia plot, but I do think Hall wrote it in a way that didn’t make either character unlikeable…unless they were supposed to be unlikeable.

This was a slow burn, and a did hit a point where I was ready for some action between our two main characters a bit sooner than it happened, but it was worth the wait.

I enjoyed the elements of family, Christmas and healing. I will definitely be checking out other books by Alexis Hall in the future.

I randomly decided to go look at my Netgalley list and knock a few out. I've been terrible about reading this year. Seeing this Alexis Hall book made me so happy. Sometimes me and their novels don't jell but I always have a good time with their romances. A romcom was just what I needed this week. The weather getting cold and just in time for the holiday season. I flew through it. The book was so much fun to read. I loved it. I could see where this might not work for other people but I loved the mcs. They felt relatable and really resonated with me. I loved the themes of family, and purpose and trauma. I never felt a lag in the reading experience. This may be my favorite Alexis Hall to date. Also the audio book is top notch.

Review given in exchange for a copy of the book.

10 Things was a fake amnesia, work romance featuring a MM lead, their boss/employee dynamic, and a whole lot of deceit. This book was an enjoyable read, but not my favorite, which surprised me because I normally really love Alexis Hall. The chemistry between the two MCs was...strained at best. The fake amnesia was put forth as 'unbelievable' but was honestly the easiest thing to accept. The deceit and the misrepresentation by Sam was by far more difficult, and his character arc failed to make a lot of sense. He is portrayed as a kind, empathetic person in the beginning who would do literally anything to help his team, and then somehow morphed into a character that is bitter, depressed, and detached. The exact opposite of how he was portrayed throughout the entire book. I feel like we should have had Sam's background in the beginning, his character could have been fleshed out a bit more and made more dynamic instead of a major personality vibe that switches in the last 10%. I found Jonathon to be much more believable as a character, more complex and well rounded, more believable. He began as a very flat MC but evolved into a nuanced individual that was relatable and easy to empathize with. Sam, for me, unfortunately, failed to meet that mark. Their relationship was strained and odd at best, forced and a bit abusive at worst. I would recommend the book to others, but maybe with a few key warnings and some notes on where to suspend your rationality and just 'go with it' for the sake of the larger story, which was enjoyable if not my favorite.

Well, not my favorite Alexis Hall book, but it was decent! This book was a harder sell for me — the amnesia plot was hard to believe, which I know was basically the point, but it still irked me. I also just didn’t feel the chemistry much between the guys. There was some great banger and characters (and Gollum!!), so I found it entertaining enough.

3⭐️

I normally really love the characters in Alexis Hall novels, and I really loved the ways we got to unfold both Jonathan and Sam’s characters. The plot seemed a bit tenuous for me, since it seemed very unrealistic even with the amnesia that Jonathan would be obligated to have Sam stay at his house, especially when they went all the way back to Sam’s house to get his cat, because that would have been the perfect opportunity to see if there was anyone there that Sam could stay with. I also didn’t like that we only learned about Sam’s family situation in the last chapter, even though I really liked the reveal and its surrounding scene, because that was all I was thinking about the entire book. Other than those two things, I really enjoyed reading it and loved Hall’s customary brand of humour!

If you love Alexis Hall's brilliant British humor and her fabulous banter, this book is for you. The premise is fairly ridiculous but the cast of characters is so lovable I was willing to go with it. I'm glad it's the first in a series and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for the copy to review.

3,5 stars
Good fun read! Not my absolute favourite book ever but I really liked the story and had a great time. Not the fastest read but the story was interesting enough to keep going.

A charming romance written with Alexis Hall’s usual British voice.

The book follows employee and employer and their enemies to lovers arc involving a lot of lies and misdirection.

I quite enjoy the humour and the lively characters that add a lot of fun to the story. The romance in itself is cliche with it’s misunderstood grumpy love interest, the reveal and breakup just before they reconcile for no much solid reason except letting bygones be bygones.

There is no smut in this book much to my surprise and still managed to be an enjoyable adult romance. I feel the author’s writing has considerably improved with this book.

For a book about faking amnesia, this book was certainly memorable! A medley of some of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers, sleeping with the boss, found family, billionaire romance—though not quite a billionaire in this case) made for a fantastic story.

It took me a minute to find the narrator’s (Sam) voice, but the note included in the beginning of the story with examples from queer culture icons certainly helped with my American learning curve. I found Sam’s persistence and lack of filter charming, but I wouldn’t feel the same if he were my employee, which lent itself very well to his dynamic with Jonathon. Getting to see the growth in both of them as the story progressed and they learned more about each other was a real treat. They were also surrounded by an ensemble of memorable, distinct characters (including Gollum the cat) that made the dialogue a ton of fun to read and helped to alleviate some of the heavier, more emotional scenes between just same and Jonathon.

Reading this in November and having the story ended at Christmas (twice) made this the perfect read! I’d absolutely recommend anyone who enjoys snarky banter and the build that comes with an enemies-to-lovers relationship between two stubborn men.

The premise of this book is totally absurd and I don’t care in the slightest because Alexis Hall wrote it and he does such a perfect job that the whole thing works regardless. I like everything he writes but this one might be my favorite. The plot, while silly, was interesting and engaging. The characters were so well developed and relatable and I also appreciated how grown up they were, how even though they were flawed and made some dumb decisions they weren’t completely aggravating. The chemistry and tension were perfectly executed as always. The family stuff was so messily spot on and the characters’ growth arcs so well done. I just really enjoyed everything about this book.

Despite the fact that it had many similar elements to the London Calling series, I didn't like this book as much as I've liked those two. I believe it's because the lying element made me uncomfortable. I liked many elements of this book -- the humor, the setting, the culture -- but the lying and the main character really tripped me up through the whole novel. Despite that fact that this novel feels very similar to another series by the same author, I really struggled to connect with these characters or care about their story.

This book had a lot of potential but fell just a bit flat. I really wish there had been a smidge more relationship development between Jonathan and Sam. I felt they just weren’t IT. I do love how very realistic it felt though. The whole premise was grumpy/sunshine, but there was a lot of emotional turmoil involved that left bittersweet feelings in its wake. Overall a solid 3.

Alexis Hall is back with his classic humor and hot mess characters in 10 Things That Never Happened. Our protagonist Sam clashes with his difficult boss Jonathan and somehow ends up pretending to have amnesia to prevent getting sacked. This couldn’t possibly go wrong, right? Maybe his boss isn’t so bad?
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The side characters in Hall’s books are always fun and Jonathan’s family was no exception this time. I was happy this novel had a similar vibe to Boyfriend Material. I also enjoyed that there is a holiday element in this one. So great for this time of year!

Love this book, and loved the character interactions. I usually don't like enemies to lovers but Alexis Hall does it well. It takes a good writer to make the love interest not an ***hole.

Okay, I loved this book. As a romcom author myself, I appreciate a book that can make me snort-laugh out loud, and this one did it. The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my favs and Jonathan is a real grump that's for sure, whereas Sam is a sweet and happy guy who just so happens to be having a rough time...no spoilers. It has a hapless Hugh Grant in Notting Hill vibe for me. The gigantic Christmas tree and obligatory van scenes (if you've read Boyfriend Material and Husband Material) were so much fun. Also, having worked in retail many moons ago I was cackling at the customer interactions and the deep, ridiculously detailed product knowledge of the characters at work. Excellent read! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I adored this. The banter and wit was addictive, I read this at the beginning of November which was the PERFECT time to read due to the Christmas setting, which I wasn’t expecting so it was a pleasant surprise!